Period 3 apush Vocab

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French and Indian war

1754–1763. Name for the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War. Featured Britain and France, and their colonial and native allies, fighting for control of North America east of the Mississippi. While the British won, they incurred massive debts in the process. This led to trouble down the road for them. See: Treaty of Paris (1763).

George Washington

First President. Served 1789–1797. A land surveyor from Virginia, he led colonial militia as an officer in the French and Indian War. Led the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War at battles such as Valley Forge and Yorktown. Later presided over the Continental Congress. Among many other acts, he established the informal two-term limit for presidents by declining to run for reelection in 1796. See: Farewell Address.

Albany Plan of Union

A proposal by the Albany Congress, under the guidance of Benjamin Franklin, during the French and Indian War. It called for a confederation of colonies to defend against attack by European and native foes. Rejected by the colonial assemblies due to concern over the central consolidation of power, and by the British government because they felt it allowed for too much colonial independence.

Quartering Act

A 1765 act of Parliament that required colonial citizens to provide room and board for British soldiers stationed in America. Wildly unpopular. This practice was later banned by the Third Amendment to the Constitution.

Stamp act

A pivotal 1765 law. It required that all paper in the colonies, from death and marriage certificates to newspapers, have a stamp affixed signifying that the required tax had been paid. See: Stamp Act Congress.

Boston Massacre

A landmark incident on March 5, 1770 that helped alienate the American people from Parliament and King George III. Angered by the Quartering Act, a crowd of Bostonians harassed the British troops guarding a local customs house. The guards fired upon the crowd, killing five and wounding six protesters. John Adams would defend the guards tried for this incident and secure their acquittal.

Boston Tea Party

In protest of the Tea Act, Bostonians dressed as American Indians boarded British merchant ship and dumped their tea into Boston Harbor. Resulted in closure of the Harbor, the colonial charter of Massachusetts being revoked, and the Quartering Act.

Intolerable Act

A colonial term for a number of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. See: Quebec Act, Tea Act, Thomas Gage.

Pontiacs Rebellion

An 18-month conflict with the American Indians of the Ohio Valley. Led by Chief Pontiac, leader of the Ottawa people, natives attacked British colonial settlements from the Great Lakes to Virginia. Resulted in the Proclamation of 1763.

Proclamation of 1763

In reaction to Pontiac’s Rebellion, King George III barred American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British saw this as a quick and easy way to make peace while securing the fur trade. Colonists, however, were incensed by the crown’s interference in their ability to settle land they had won in the French and Indian War. The colonists often ignored it. An important contributing factor to the American Revolution.